I almost didn’t pick up this book, as the title was a bit… unfortunate. But I’m so glad I ended up reading it anyway! In this quick novella, Cox was able to create two characters that I loved - even though they were flawed and each had t...

A Dance of Love and Jealousy – Roland Graeme

Nate, a young up-and-coming dancer is continuously working to improve his dancing skills in order to better his capabilities. His idol, famous aging dancer and new choreographer, Romuald, signs on to work with at the dance company where Nate is a soloist. But Nate is conflicted – he was in love with his straight best friend on the dance troop; a known player is after Nate; and he’s unsure if his idol will give him everything he wants in a relationship. Who will Nate end up with?

This is a different story line than many of the m/m books I’ve read recently, and I appreciated the new setting and characters. It also provided a glimpse into the dancing world which was a welcome change. Overall though, this book confused me – it was VERY long and in my opinion, the same story could have been told with 200 less pages. There seemed to be a lot of superfluous information and details that didn’t add any value to the story or move the plot forward. Details such as the description of every dance move, things that they were observing on stage, repeated observations and thoughts, and so on – didn’t prove valuable within the story. It felt like I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what the story was actually going to be about. However, once it was more apparent who the story was really between, Graeme did a good job at creating the sexual tension between the two main characters.

If you’re looking for sex, this probably isn’t the right book for you. You have to wait about 185 pages before any action appears, but expect the sexual tension to be high before and after the encounter. This is more of a “love story,” but not in a traditional sense. There aren’t many grand gestures or emotional insights, but you can feel the passion and love between the two men.

Out of four…
Overall Read: ♥
Sex Heat: ♥
Plot: ♥♥

If you are a fan of dance or are looking for a behind-the-scenes look into the dance culture, you will really enjoy this book. It’s also great if you are looking for a longer, more detailed story.